A greenhouse that cleans up indoor air

Inside one New Delhi office building, there are four times more plants than people. The greenery makes up part of a natural filtration system: When the building sucks in the smoggy outdoor air in the world's most polluted city, the plants help make it safe to breathe.

 

"People have a wrong notion in their mind that air pollution is something that takes place only outside," says Kamal Meattle, CEO of Parharpur Business Centre (PBC) and designer of the plant-based air purification system. "Indoor air is typically 10 times more polluted than outside."

 

On the roof of Meattle's building, scrubbers remove chemicals like nitrogen oxide from outdoor air and then send it into a greenhouse filled with plants like Areca palm. The plants clean the air more, using a hydroponic system that the company says makes the plants more efficient at pollutant filters. The greenhouse then sends fresh oxygen into the building, which has hundreds more plants on each floor.

 

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